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I'll phone you back, I said and hung up, and when I did phone back she was all right, although she wasn't all right, of course, and we all knew she wasn't.
“我会再打给您的。”说完我便挂断了电话。而等我打回去的时候，她已经“正常”了。尽管她实际上并不正常，当然，我们都知道她一直不正常。
She had always been a small woman—short, light-boned, delicately structured—but now, under the white hospital sheet, she was becoming tiny. I thought of a doll with huge, fierce eyes. There had always been a fierceness in her. It showed in that angry challenging thrust of the chin when she issued an opinion, and a great one she had always been for issuing opinions.
她一直是个体态娇小的女人——矮个子、小骨架、体格小巧——但是现在，在医院白色罩单下的她愈发显得瘦小，让我觉得她像一个大眼睛、目光犀利的玩偶。她身上总有那么一股倔劲儿。她发表见解时，总是气鼓鼓地、挑衅地扬起下巴。这种表情充分显现出她的性格，她总是那么勇于发表自己的看法。
I tell people exactly what's on my mind, she had been fond of boasting, "whether they like it or not."
“我想什么都会直接告诉别人，”她总喜欢炫耀，“不管他们喜不喜欢。”
It's not always good policy to tell people exactly what's on your mind, I used to caution her.
“想什么就说什么不一定总是上策。”我曾经提醒过她。
If they don't like it, that's too bad, was her customary reply, "because that's the way I am."
“如果他们不喜欢，那就太糟糕了，”这是她惯有的回答，“因为我就是这样的人。”
And so she was, a formidable woman, determined to speak her mind, determined to have her way, determined to bend those who opposed her. She had hurled herself at life with an energy that made her seem always on the run.
她就是这样一个令人敬畏的女人，想说什么就说什么，想做什么就做什么，执意要使对手甘拜下风。她以极大的热情全身心地投入到生活中’这股热情使她看上去总是风风火火。
She ran after chickens, an axe in her hand, determined on a beheading that would put dinner in the pot. She ran when she made the beds, ran when she set the table. One Thanksgiving she burned herself badly when, running up from the cellar even with the ceremonial turkey, she tripped on the stairs and tumbled down, ending at the bottom in the debris of giblets, hot gravy, and battered turkey.
她曾手持斧子追赶鸡群，决意要杀掉一只做成晚餐；她不管是铺床时还是摆饭桌时，都显得很麻利。有一年的感恩节，她烫伤得很严重。当时，她从地窖里上来，手里端着过节要吃的火鸡，上楼梯时绊了一跤，滚下了楼梯，结果火鸡裂开了，她跌坐在一堆鸡内脏和滚烫的肉汁中。
